SFNL: Endeavour Hills snapped a seven-game losing streak with tight win over Highett

Endeavour Hills was lifted by its youth on Saturday, as a 21-year-old and a teenager on debut snapped the Falcons’ seven-game losing streak and lifted them from a growing threat of relegation.

Endeavour Hills snapped a seven-game losing streak. Picture: Renae Barrett

It’s not often footy offers an opportunity to rewrite wrongs just seven days later.

Endeavour Hills let one slip last weekend, succumbing to Keysborough’s pressure in the last quarter to lose after the siren.

The Falcons looked to be following the same script on Saturday against Highett, down 10 points in time-on after having control on the match.

Endeavour Hills needed a change in the tide, and it was the kids who stood up.

Hills’ coach Matt Peake praised ruckman Tyler Studd, 21, and teenage debutant Mitch Grant, who “found something” when they needed it most.

“It was a couple of the really young ones,” he said.

“We’ve been rotating Tyler Studd in the ruck, Fall Wanganeen came back, he absorbed a lot of the pressure.

“We put Tyler back in the ruck and he just jumped and jumped and jumped in the last five minutes and he found something.

“Another Grant, the youngest Mitch, debuted and he had a great last quarter, he was really clean, in wet conditions he was just one touch and used his speed.

“When we got in front he looked like he’d kicked the sealer and it hit the top of the post.

“He was a bit of a standout, certainly in the last, but I felt like everyone was like ‘we’re not letting this happen again’.”

Nathan Reid flies for a mark earlier this season. Picture: Renae Barrett

The Falcons kicked two goals late in the match to pinch victory over the Bulldogs, 8.15 (63) to 8.12 (60).

Peake said the Falcons learned a lot from their defeat to the Burras and knew where they had let themselves down.

“It was about not going into our shell and we felt like we did a little bit,” he said.

“We still had our moments but in general I think we went into our shell a little bit and didn’t play the footy we wanted to.

“I think we invited the pressure Keysy were putting on our backs and almost let it happen, whereas this week it was almost heading that way and then the boys lifted.

“They didn’t just fall into their shells, they definitely learnt, and I feel like we’ve been learning every week but haven’t been able to put it all together.”

The win was like a final for Endeavour Hills with the growing unknown surrounding Narre Warren and Berwick Springs’ place in the Southern league.

A win has the Falcons in seventh position now eight points clear of the Bulldogs, while a loss would’ve had them equal second-last with St Kilda City.

If the Magpies and Titans’ entry results in a double relegation, the game between the Falcons and Bulldogs would have had a major sway in who goes down.

Peake said the Falcons would shift their expectations to avoid being reliant on the how the league shapes Division 2.

“I don’t think we’ve talked about that possibility until the last week or so,” he said.

“It did start coming into our thinking and it was mentioned in the group, you know, ‘we’ve got ourselves unfortunately in this fight’.

“We knew this game was like a final for us and moving forward everything counts.

“I don’t know what the league will do, Narre coming in, does it mean two drop down, I don’t know, Berwick Springs (coming in too), I am not sure.

“All I know is I don’t want to be reliant on what the league does, I just want to make sure we’re not in that conversation.”